Shetland Wool Week 2019 Part 2: Burns Unit On Tour
Four months after our trip to Shetland Wool Week and I’ve finally had the chance to write up my thoughts! This blog (Part 2) is focused on my experience of visiting Shetland and Wool Week for the first time, Part 1 is about my experience teaching at Wool Week and can be found here…
This is a very disjointed highlight reel of our trip, and I’ve probably omitted quite a lot, as we squeezed so much into the week. It’s also very image heavy, as I find writing a lot harder than taking photos! Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post if you want some tips for your trip, or to ask any other questions.
We set off for Shetland on a weekday evening, in our trusty Polo. Luckily my husband (Alasdair) loves a road trip, as the journey up was long and eventful! As I was teaching I brought equipment and materials up with me, which meant we had little choice but to drive the whole way from Bristol.
Somehow we squeezed all of our stuff for a weeks holiday plus my equipment into our little Polo (hooray for vacuum bags and a husband who is good at Tetris) , and we were on our way! The first day we left in the evening, stopping overnight at the very glamorous Travelodge on the M6 at Lancaster. The following day we drove through some pretty awful rain and wind (but also some glorious sunshine - classic Scottish weather!) through Scotland to the ferry at Aberdeen.
We met lot of Wool Weekers on the ferry which was great fun, as newbies we heard plenty of stories and tips for the week. All started well, but we were unlucky and had a pretty rough overnight crossing to Shetland. Our plan to get drunk and pass out was perhaps a bit naive…
Arriving into Lerwick at 7am feeling rather haggered and with time to kill before we could check into our accommodation, we parked the car and went out on a walk around Lerwick.
As I’m sure most people do on arrival, we immediately fell in love with the town, discovering its history and landscape. The tourist information centre gave us a great circular walk to try, which led us first the the lodberries, houses built into the sea, made recently famous by the BBC series Shetland. Neither of us have seen the show but we loved the buildings regardless, they were really stunning with the sea as a backdrop, even on an overcast day.
We walked around to The Broch of Clickimin, an ancient settlement (no photos for some reason), before heading back into town for lunch at the Peerie Cafe.
Still way too early for check in, and unable to shake off our sea legs, we headed to the Museum, where we were greeted with the massive laser cut wooly board and saw the preparations for Wool Week happening.
The museum provides a great history and insight into Shetland, with plenty of textile geekery to keep me entertained!
One morning we took a trip to St Ninians Isle, which is connected to the mainland via a tombolo (another new word!). A truly stunning place, though as is often the case with me, I took photos of bright yellow stuff….
In between teaching commitments we would often wander to the Hub in the museum, the heart of Wool Week. Full of cosy chairs and wool enthusiasts from all over the world, it was very easy to feel welcomed, sit down and start knitting, or just see what others were working on or planning to do that day.
Just North of Lerwick town centre is the Textile Museum at the Bod of Gremista. Full of historical textile treasures, we were lucky enough to see some local spinners in action. Spinning is a skill I am completely in awe of, particularly when I saw how fast and how fine the ladies here could spin!
I love the knitted lace fence made by Ann Eunson that greets you on arrival, and the huge scarf that wraps around the building - once we were inside we realised it was attached to some needles and you could knit a few rows! A fab interactive exhibit - Alasdair picked up the needles and realised he remembered how to knit despite it being at least a decade since he last knitted.
One evening we had a Shetland Reel gin tasting hosted by Fjara Cafe. The food and drinks were superb. and the view wasn’t too bad either! We are big converts to their gin, buying a few bottles for Christmas gifts, and a gin and a whisky for ourselves. Next time we’ll make it up to Unst to see the distillery.
Faye Hackers, course leader of Contemporary Textiles at UHI, designed and made a range of scarves which were beautifully displayed at the Museum during Wool Week. Inspired by 12 members of the Shetland Wool Community, these were silently auctioned to support the community member’s charity of choice.
Speaking of the college, we went on a tour of the textile department. They have some fantastic facilities which I am completely jealous of, including Shima Seiki industrial knitting machines, which make work for students and local designers.
The Friday of Wool Week was ‘Fair Isle Friday’, where visitors were encourage to wear their best Fair Isle knitwear. My contribution was a vintage vest gifted to me by a friend (colourwork hand kniting is not my forte) which I paired with my Mum-made Harris Tweed shorts. Despite everyone’s wonderful efforts, I think we were all upstaged by the Shetland ponies who visited the Hub in the afternoon!
Above are some snaps of shop fronts in Lerwick. From L-R: Jamieson and Smith wool shed, a vintage knitwear display at Smith and Roberston, a board explaining the wool making process at Jamieson’s, and Ninian’s fantasic window display.
Some other Lerwick things that weren’t photographed but deserve a shout out:
Lerwick Brewery - well worth booking a tour and a tasting - excellent beer from the UK’s most Northerly brewery.
Mirrie Dancers - awesome chocolatier, we recommend the port and stilton truffle (really!)
The Dowry - great cafe bar, excellent sharing plates with local produce and drink selection.
My final work commitment of the week was the Maker’s Market, which was a great opportunity to connect with everyone I’d met or not yet had the chance to meet over the week. It was lovely to put a face to so many Instagram buddies!
I didn’t buy a huge amount, but got a few balls of yarn from Foula and Fair Isle to add to my growing collection of place specific yarns.
Alasdair had re-learnt to knit while I was busy teaching and made good progress on a scarf during the market, knitted in Croft yarn he’d bought from Jamieson and Smith. Realising it may take a while to complete, he bought this excellent Overlook scarf from RAM Knitwear, which I plan to ‘borrow’ because it’s so good!
On our final day in Shetland, we headed out to Northavine, stopping at Mavis Grind where the road separates the North Sea and the Atlanic Ocean! It was a really stunning view, we would have stayed much longer if we’d had the time.
We continued up the road to Esha Ness, where we had been told was the start epic coastal walk. However, it was really windy and we were short of time, so a quick stroll well away from the cliff edge would have to do!
This last little adventure made me really sad we had run out of time, and eager to return. I’m excited to have been invited back up to teach this year, and have made sure we have a few days after Wool Week ends to explore the islands more. Shetland definitely has our hearts!
(I’m going to leave this post on a positive and leave out the details about the journey home!)
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